Jenki

No. But more as I changed the plans to heat water for my cabins, I've gone for LPG gas water heaters as I didn't want them to run out of water. And heating the cabins with an Air 2 Air HP. Still thinking about these for the house but that's not starting till next year.

2.5MM t&e will handle around 26A (6KW), way past the 3.6KW load. Any bigger is a waste of money.

This was my plan, the Polysteel blocks are 600mm high, so strip footing (although the area has been excavated to bedrock.), then 1 course of ICF block to DPC, 300mm EPS on MOT for the slab.

@Russell griffiths. you didn't mis understand. Labour is me and the mrs, so i'm ignoring this. either way. Concrete pump this high up in the highlands is far from cheap but I've got a cost. Timber frame was going to be DIY insulated foundation, if i go for ICF then ill use ICF block to get to DPM (that's included in the price, as well as structural calcs) so I will save on the reinforcement, and EPS300 costs. not great savings but they all add up. Please comment from your experience with my thoughts on approach. Bracing will be DIY with timber and some adjustment hardware. and I'll pour the concrete from scaffolding on the external. The scaffold will assist with the bracing. I'll reuse the timber bracing for studwork. The way I see it and the costs, I'll get ICF structure to wall plate / gables for 15K. (this will have a u value of 0.13 for walls, and 0.11 for slab (300mm EPS) and minimal thermal bridge. With timber frame I will then need to start on airtightness for the walls, battens for service cavity etc. so yes a little more expensive than timber frame , but not massively. and having experienced a few weeks of the weather up here toward winter, I'm feeling better about a solid lump of concrete.

If DB2 only supplies (I Assume DB3) then change to switch fuse as @ProDave mentions. Then it won't trip as its just a fuse. but then the cable supplying DB3, (do you know what cable type it is?) is only protected with a big fuse - hence the + 1 for upgrading to SWA. - but this does not necessarily fix an issue in DB3. as DB 3 is a new CU have you got the test results for it? This could be tripping due to brown outs, surges in O/Head power lines, many reasons really. DB2 which causes the problem you mention the left or right trip? so either the RCD trips, or the MCB trips. to me it does point to an issues with A, the supply cable to DB3, (under size, failing insulation / damp) B, a circuit in DB3 - as again I'm assuming DB2 has a standard RCD, so it trips here first

652 miles down the road for me😂

My biggest concern would be what is at the back of the walls. Is there any tanking / damp proof membrane between the soil and the new block? If not, then the blocks will soak up the moisture and WILL come through to the front. If you render, then as @ProDave , suggests the render will pop off or at least blister before failing. If above could be an issuer, you could consider securing fence panels to the walls? or cladding. Steps could be paving / tiles.

IP68

Yep. IP56 as a minimum As you point out IP55 and IP65 give the same level of water protection.

Have you got land drainage around the base of the raft? Then you would want pea gravel or similar to act as a french drain

Personally wouldn't use IP 55 rated as an external consumer unit. Not guaranteed to survive driven rain etc. It is not classed as waterproof. A bit like a fold away cagoule 😂

Have you any details on the lagoon design? I've not researched this yet, but I'm finding that on out site It might be prudent for us to hold some water back. I was planning RWH for the house, and the latest rain has confirmed I need to do something, as the rubble drain for our treatment plant has backed up recently 🤔 I've got about 4 acres of field draining towards the coast past my treatment plant and not getting past my new track, so currently pumping this to help it on its way to the sea. I've got some more stone on the way to bring the level of my track back to the original field level, so it doesn't pool.

Generally soil pipes use rest bends. (A long radius with a foot). Gives the pipe extra support, I've seen people use long radius bends, but might be worth checking with BC. The pipes usually extend above FFL and capped to stop concrete entering the system. It's also a good idea to pressure test all this before the pour. ( In Scotland they will insist on the test.)

Thanks. Looks fantastic.

@Happy Valley, good to see someone has been there first.. how were the reveals for doors / windows catered for ? any photos of that? thanks in advance

My Budget is tight, and I plan (planned) stick built on site by me, and my trusty apprentice. to get decent U values. I was going for 100mm wood fibre, 8*2 with Frametherm 32 OSB, then service cavity etc. The design is simple to reduce costs. walls plus gables are around 112 M2. when you add the cost of timber / OSB battens and then the inflated costs of Frametherm32 and wood fibre your hitting 13K without thinking about vapour barriers / breather membranes battens etc. I've only had two quotes so far. but 10.6K delivered, this includes ICF for the strip footing, and a U of 0.13 with poly steel (this is the standard block with 100mm EPS EWI) obviously need to add to this Concrete,, pump and rebar but its starting to look favourable.

Has anybody had experience with these blocks? https://polysteel.co.uk/ I'm starting looking at other options for my planned timber frame build, as the increased insulation costs are making ICF look more affordable. (possibly cheaper). These are UK made, and have a steel web which looks substantial. The online available information is limited, and leaves me a lot of questions.

I've just had the following costs from Econekt 300mm Elements, 150mm concrete core - 0.19W/m2K 112 m2 £ 58.95 £ 6,602.40 Upgrade from Prince to King and a u value of 0.15W/m2K would be £15.34/m2 so circa £2,040 up. Upgrade from Prince to Super King and a u value of 0.11W/m2K would be £25.06/m2 so circa £3,332 up. Problem with these was delivery charge to my location.....

CW Berry?

Hoping someone might be able to offer some options for me to try. In our Static the hot water is heated with the above boiler LPG gas fired. It's new 4 months, and works fine. However I'm having issues when it's windy. And at "The Windy Roost" it's windy. These boilers auto light on demand, and when it's windy in won't light or blows out. The last week we've been having regular winds of 20mph. and basically had no hot water. The wind dropped today , and we've both managed a warm shower. So the boiler is fine. But wind is an issue. Firstly I understand this is a gas appliance, so there is a CO monitor next to the boiler. I'm not averse to getting a gas engineer out. But want a solution before that. And hopefully somebody on here might offer some suggestions. 1; I've altered the vent in the floor to reduce the gale blowing from underneath direct straight up into the boiler. This is an old caravan and adequate air is available. I've just changed the direction of that vent. 2; It has a standard cowl on the roof. Basically 5 aluminium discs and a cap. My initial thoughts were that the wind was being blown down the vent, but I'm not too sure. I've made a temporary anti back draft modification to the vent to see if this helped, a strip of aluminium around the fins similar to this. But this had no effect. 3; if I take the cover off the boiler, it will light in 20mph winds but as soon as the cover goes on the gas cuts out. ( The flame does not look stable though.) 4; I've read that sometimes airflow over the roof can cause turbulent air, my vent is around 400mm above the roof. Could this need increasing in height? So can anyone offer something to try? Thanks in advance.

+1 for this option , especially for the 254mm beam

You can screw a wood wall plate to the steel with self tapping screws, or drill through and place a timber in the web and screw the two together with the flange as a sandwich. Cobolt drills are your friend here. I would think the door company would use tec screws or baypole screws into the steel. Why introduce timber here?

You could get an RSJ and stainless plate welded for the wider one.

Not sure mine has this. I would prefer as it's the only negative I have with this unit. I bought 2 more units(slightly different model from appliances direct) for my cabin builds I'll be installing next week. This is the plug I bought. https://amzn.eu/d/8EGmaj2

Thought I'd round this off with a bit of info on running costs. The last few days have been fairly Windy in the static, and the heating has been used a lot. I bought a plug in WiFi energy meter to have a look at the power usage. Below is the screen shot. It seems to use between 5 and 45 watts in standby. The unit was in standby when this screenshot was taken. And using 7.03W. I'm quite happy. We run the unit to set temp of 20 Deg and leave the internal doors open In the static to try to get the rest of the van warm. Appreciate anyone's thoughts on this.